Daily Allowance – Report Of The Committee On Allowances

Daily Allowance (Para 8.15.15): Report of the Committee on Allowances

Existing Provisions: Daily Allowance is meant to cover living expenses when employees travel out of their headquarters and is in the form of reimbursement as under (only travelling Taxi Charges):

Recommendations of 7th CPC: Recommendations provide for changes in the reimbursement procedure. The Commission considered the present model followed in Railways and in other ministries and proposed to adopt the best from both of them so that the administration of the allowance can be simplified. Accordingly, following has been recommended (only Taxi Charges):

a.Reimbursement of travelling charges

All the above provisions will apply to Railway personnel also.

Demand:
M/o Railways: With the approval of the Cabinet, the Ministry of Railways has not adopted the different components of Daily Allowance post 6th CPC. It has also been mentioned by the 7th CPC that the present expenditure on TA / DA by Railways is around ₹1450 crore per year. If 7 th CPC formulation is adopted, the additional financial implication would be enormous (two to two and half times the present expenditure). Hence, DA / TA Rules for Railways may continue to be distinct from those for others, as at present.

Analysis and Recommendations of the Committee:
Ministry of Railways has an extensive network of Rest Houses and related infrastructure. The request of the Railways to have a distinct set of TA/ DA rules for them will ensure an effective utilisation of their infrastructure and resources. The Committee is of the view that the different system adopted by Indian Railways in the 6th CPC regime, may be continued with revised rates to be decided in consultation with Ministry of Finance. The recommendation of the 7th CPC that the provisions of Daily Allowance will also apply to Railway personnel may, therefore, not be accepted.

On reimbursement of travelling charges, the Committee is of the view that restriction of 50 kms, at times, can be a bottleneck in planning engagements while on tour. Also, it is difficult to book non – AC taxis as most taxis now have AC. In fact, car manufacturers no longer sell non – AC variants of their various car models in the Indian market. Therefore, the recommendations of the 7th CPC on reimbursement of travelling charges may be accepted with the following modifications: